Storage of Euterpe edulis through just germinated seedlings

• Grant number: 08/08160-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2008
• End date: September 30, 2009
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Forestry Resources and Forestry Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Edson Seizo Mori
• Grantee: Isliana Griebler Ribeiro Caldas
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas (FCA). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The storage of recalcitrant seeds is one of the problems faced by seedlings producers, because those seeds are susceptible to desiccation during the storage. Even in the most favorable conditions, the longevity of recalcitrant seeds is relatively short, and varies from few weeks to few months, according to the species. The study of methodologies for the storage of recalcitrant seeds is important to allow those species can be planted in any season of the year. A lot of researches have been done to increase the storage time of the seed, therefore the period of storage has been lightly increased. The strategy of species perpetuation does not always follow the same patterns. Orthodox species are stored in the nature, into the seed banks. However, other species, especially the recalcitrant, are found into the banks of seedlings, following another evolutionary pathway. Based on the biological and ecological observations, the hypothesis of this research would be that recalcitrant species should have greater success by the storage of seedlings, as occurs in nature, and not in seeds. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to store Euterpe edulis, which has recalcitrant seeds, by young seedlings just germinated and observe their development until the phase of seedlings in the nursery, until a year of storage. It will be tested the storage of young seedlings in cold environment, in five different moisture levels of substrate. The quantity of 100 young seedlings per treatment will be evaluated monthly, through germination chambers (30 days), after through greenhouse (30 days), and finally in shadow environment (30 days), during the 12 months of storage.